There will be many surgical strikes between India and Pakistan: I Ramamohan Rao Writes

The end of September this year saw a “surgical strike” carried out by India against terrorist training grounds in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Unlike earlier strikes across the Line of Control, this was an operation conducted by the Indian Army in a commando-style operation, which was announced soon after it had the maximum impact on our western neighbour, which has been indulging in increased terrorist activities throughout this year. That it has had the impact is displayed by the fact that Pakistan denied that such an operation has ever taken place. At stake, was the reputation of the Pakistan Army and its outgoing Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif? The Indian surgical strike, as pointed out by the author, followed taunting by Pakistan since the Kargil operations in 1999. It was Followed by an attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, the Mumbai attack in November 2008, the Gurdaspur attack in 2015, the Pathankot attack in 2016 and to cap it all, the attack on Uri in 2016.

These events have happened because India didn’t develop an effective strategy of dealing with an obnoxious neighbour, says the author. Pakistan has been breeding terror and covertly exporting the same to India, forcing it to suffer. The author suggests that India must develop a proactive Pakistan policy, which inflicts massive costs on it for each and every misadventure. Simultaneously, India should take steps to internationally isolate Pakistan. The author recalls that the antagonism has origins going back centuries. The colonial power too adopted a policy of “Divide and Rule”. After the decade of the 1950s, USA and some other Western countries formed a sort of an anti-India cartel under the British. There was a dislike of the policy of non-alignment followed by India and Pakistan became a member of the SEATO and CENTO. The author has made a detailed study of the impact of Chinese shadow on India-Pakistan relations and has pointed out that China is an all weather friend of Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan is seeking a leadership role of the Islamic world. He has also pointed out that the large Muslim community in India as not adequately integrated into the national mainstream. In addition, India has to take care of organisations like the LeT, the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and SIMI who receive large funds through covert and overt channels. The Islamic clergy too is quietly continuing with its job of conversion. He points out that there is a desire to create a “Caliphate “in South Asia. The author has given a detailed assessment of the role of ISI which has huge unaccounted funds, the role of non-state actors like Let, JuD, JeM, TTP etc which run more than three dozen training camps for exporting terrorists to India and Afghanistan. All these are supported by the Pakistan clergy and bureaucracy. The author’s assessment is that Pakistan does not need India’s trade or IT expertise. What it urgently needs is the Kashmir Valley and beyond. The unfinished agenda of partition has to be attended to. He says India -Pakistan relations shall continue to simmer or suffer due to the unavoidable pangs of the Cold War, which sometimes shall boil and blast, in terms of active outbursts. India should train and be prepared be or the same. Üdai Vir Singh has been brutally honest in his assessment of our Western neighbour. Book Review: Indo-Pak Relations Beyond Surgical Strike By Dr U. V. Singh, pages 306. Prince Rs. 595. Pentagon Publishers

Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer of the Government of India. He can be reached on his e-mail raoramamohan@hotmail.com .